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Topic: Am I a Slav? (Read 7370 times)

I'm filling out a lengthy scholarship application for my university. Under "ethnic origin," they have the usual answers such as "white, black, hispanic, etc." One answer they have that surprised me, though, is "Slavic."

My heritage is Polish, Slovak, German, and British. My mother's father, and my father's mother were the children of Slavic immigrants.

I'm rather confounded. I mean, I was brought up with a strong Polish American identity by my grandmother, but my name is entirely of English origin. My heritage is only 1/2 Eastern European, and I've heard some debate over weather Poles and Slovaks are, indeed, Slavs.

I'm thinking of just selecting "white" and being done with it, but still I wonder.

Am I a Sav?

(Being an American, I find this suggestion a bit silly, as most Americans of Slavic descent would feel like foreigners in Eastern Europe, anyway...)

If it is just a matter of checkboxes, perhaps ticking 'White - Other' would be the least hassle.

I agree with you that such classifications are becoming increasingly irrelevant as we get less and less 'thoroughbred', so to speak. The medical environment, where such background can still be important for genetic predisposition reasons, had better think of a more efficient system soon.

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'Evil isn't the real threat to the world. Stupid is just as destructive as evil, maybe more so, and it's a hell of a lot more common. What we really need is a crusade against stupid. That might actually make a difference.'~Harry Dresden

If it is just a matter of checkboxes, perhaps ticking 'White - Other' would be the least hassle.

I agree with you that such classifications are becoming increasingly irrelevant as we get less and less 'thoroughbred', so to speak. The medical environment, where such background can still be important for genetic predisposition reasons, had better think of a more efficient system soon.

I agree. My poor mother has a hard time remembering who she's a descendant of. She has to choose "Slovak," and if that's not there, she has to choose "Austro-Hungarian." She must put "Alsacian," and if that's not a choice, she must choose "German" or "French." She must also remember to choose "Ashkenazi Jewish."

If you're serious about the application, don't get "cute". Is "Caucasian" a choice? If so, just put that. Otherwise, just put "white" and be done with it. There will be plenty of other, far more serious things to agonize about if and when you get accepted.

If you're serious about the application, don't get "cute". Is "Caucasian" a choice? If so, just put that. Otherwise, just put "white" and be done with it. There will be plenty of other, far more serious things to agonize about if and when you get accepted.

I had to sign up for a "health coach" in order to cut a few bucks off my health insurance. So, when they phoned me and drilled me...one of the last questions was my race and ethnic origin.

Surprising even myself, I gave them a hard time. I mean, what difference does it make to you where my ancestors are from? I'm paying you for my health insurance, and my money is just as green, no matter where my grandparents were born.

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Conquer evil men by your gentle kindness, and make zealous men wonder at your goodness. Put the lover of legality to shame by your compassion. With the afflicted be afflicted in mind. Love all men, but keep distant from all men.—St. Isaac of Syria

I had to sign up for a "health coach" in order to cut a few bucks off my health insurance. So, when they phoned me and drilled me...one of the last questions was my race and ethnic origin.

Surprising even myself, I gave them a hard time. I mean, what difference does it make to you where my ancestors are from? I'm paying you for my health insurance, and my money is just as green, no matter where my grandparents were born.

Totally. It's not like I'll stick out from the rest of the white students, what with my long mustache, sharovary pants, and constant urge to dance the hopak!

I had to sign up for a "health coach" in order to cut a few bucks off my health insurance. So, when they phoned me and drilled me...one of the last questions was my race and ethnic origin.

Surprising even myself, I gave them a hard time. I mean, what difference does it make to you where my ancestors are from? I'm paying you for my health insurance, and my money is just as green, no matter where my grandparents were born.

Cause certain diseases, disorders, syndromes etc. correlate with either genetics or from environment.

It is a now relatively imprecise yet pretty cheap genetic screening.

Check out the many problems "native peoples" have when they find themselves within the average American way of living for examples.

I had to sign up for a "health coach" in order to cut a few bucks off my health insurance. So, when they phoned me and drilled me...one of the last questions was my race and ethnic origin.

Surprising even myself, I gave them a hard time. I mean, what difference does it make to you where my ancestors are from? I'm paying you for my health insurance, and my money is just as green, no matter where my grandparents were born.

Cause certain diseases, disorders, syndromes etc. correlate with either genetics or from environment.

It is a now relatively imprecise yet pretty cheap genetic screening.

Check out the many problems "native peoples" have when they find themselves within the average American way of living for examples.

You beat me to it. Insurance is pretty much a straight up probabilities game. The companies are basically banking on the fact that most people don't need aid until after they've paid in a certain amount. So anything which can affect the probabilities of their policyholders needing to cash in is considered in the process. That includes ethnicities.

I had to sign up for a "health coach" in order to cut a few bucks off my health insurance. So, when they phoned me and drilled me...one of the last questions was my race and ethnic origin.

Surprising even myself, I gave them a hard time. I mean, what difference does it make to you where my ancestors are from? I'm paying you for my health insurance, and my money is just as green, no matter where my grandparents were born.

Cause certain diseases, disorders, syndromes etc. correlate with either genetics or from environment.

It is a now relatively imprecise yet pretty cheap genetic screening.

Check out the many problems "native peoples" have when they find themselves within the average American way of living for examples.

This is all quite true. (But, as my son once told me when he was 9 or 10 in response to a question I asked him: "It's none of your damned Yankee business!" All said in his perfect East Midlands [England] accent. In spite of the "damn", I couldn't stop laughing for 20 minutes!!)

I had to sign up for a "health coach" in order to cut a few bucks off my health insurance. So, when they phoned me and drilled me...one of the last questions was my race and ethnic origin.

Surprising even myself, I gave them a hard time. I mean, what difference does it make to you where my ancestors are from? I'm paying you for my health insurance, and my money is just as green, no matter where my grandparents were born.

Cause certain diseases, disorders, syndromes etc. correlate with either genetics or from environment.

It is a now relatively imprecise yet pretty cheap genetic screening.

Check out the many problems "native peoples" have when they find themselves within the average American way of living for examples.

This is all quite true. (But, as my son once told me when he was 9 or 10 in response to a question I asked him: "It's none of your damned Yankee business!" All said in his perfect East Midlands [England] accent. In spite of the "damn", I couldn't stop laughing for 20 minutes!!)

Well don't show up for tennis lessons and shout at your instructor when they ask if you are right or left handed.

I had to sign up for a "health coach" in order to cut a few bucks off my health insurance. So, when they phoned me and drilled me...one of the last questions was my race and ethnic origin.

Surprising even myself, I gave them a hard time. I mean, what difference does it make to you where my ancestors are from? I'm paying you for my health insurance, and my money is just as green, no matter where my grandparents were born.

Cause certain diseases, disorders, syndromes etc. correlate with either genetics or from environment.

It is a now relatively imprecise yet pretty cheap genetic screening.

Check out the many problems "native peoples" have when they find themselves within the average American way of living for examples.

This is all quite true. (But, as my son once told me when he was 9 or 10 in response to a question I asked him: "It's none of your damned Yankee business!" All said in his perfect East Midlands [England] accent. In spite of the "damn", I couldn't stop laughing for 20 minutes!!)

I had to sign up for a "health coach" in order to cut a few bucks off my health insurance. So, when they phoned me and drilled me...one of the last questions was my race and ethnic origin.

Surprising even myself, I gave them a hard time. I mean, what difference does it make to you where my ancestors are from? I'm paying you for my health insurance, and my money is just as green, no matter where my grandparents were born.

Cause certain diseases, disorders, syndromes etc. correlate with either genetics or from environment.

It is a now relatively imprecise yet pretty cheap genetic screening.

Check out the many problems "native peoples" have when they find themselves within the average American way of living for examples.

This is all quite true. (But, as my son once told me when he was 9 or 10 in response to a question I asked him: "It's none of your damned Yankee business!" All said in his perfect East Midlands [England] accent. In spite of the "damn", I couldn't stop laughing for 20 minutes!!)

Well don't show up for tennis lessons and shout at your instructor when they ask if you are right or left handed.

I had to sign up for a "health coach" in order to cut a few bucks off my health insurance. So, when they phoned me and drilled me...one of the last questions was my race and ethnic origin.

Surprising even myself, I gave them a hard time. I mean, what difference does it make to you where my ancestors are from? I'm paying you for my health insurance, and my money is just as green, no matter where my grandparents were born.

Cause certain diseases, disorders, syndromes etc. correlate with either genetics or from environment.

It is a now relatively imprecise yet pretty cheap genetic screening.

Check out the many problems "native peoples" have when they find themselves within the average American way of living for examples.

This is all quite true. (But, as my son once told me when he was 9 or 10 in response to a question I asked him: "It's none of your damned Yankee business!" All said in his perfect East Midlands [England] accent. In spite of the "damn", I couldn't stop laughing for 20 minutes!!)

You know you're always free to take your business elsewhere...

Some folks just don't seem to have much of a sense of humor. (Or maybe they just don't understand mine .)

I've been to two different doctors recently and was asked to select both Race and Ethnicity. Race was Caucasian, Ethnicity was Slavic. I filled in the exact Slavic nationalities thinking it was to be used for some genetic information, as pointed out. But, then I saw the sign in the waiting room that this info was being used by the Government for some new Electronic Health Record. How it is being used, I don't know, but perhaps they want to make sure some groups aren't under represented. Now I imagine the person collecting the info for the government thinking "Croatian/CarpathoRussian/...., where the heck?"

I had to sign up for a "health coach" in order to cut a few bucks off my health insurance. So, when they phoned me and drilled me...one of the last questions was my race and ethnic origin.

Surprising even myself, I gave them a hard time. I mean, what difference does it make to you where my ancestors are from? I'm paying you for my health insurance, and my money is just as green, no matter where my grandparents were born.

Cause certain diseases, disorders, syndromes etc. correlate with either genetics or from environment.

It is a now relatively imprecise yet pretty cheap genetic screening.

Check out the many problems "native peoples" have when they find themselves within the average American way of living for examples.

You beat me to it. Insurance is pretty much a straight up probabilities game. The companies are basically banking on the fact that most people don't need aid until after they've paid in a certain amount. So anything which can affect the probabilities of their policyholders needing to cash in is considered in the process. That includes ethnicities.

Serbs are Slavs, at least from what I have been told. I was also told by an old Serbian priest that you cannot be a Serb if you are not Orthodox, and if you are Orthodox, you are a Serb. So, I guess that according to him, I am a Slav. His statement was an answer to my question about how his Serbian parish would view a German in their midst.

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I would be happy to agree with you, but then both of us would be wrong.

Question a friend, perhaps he did not do it; but if he did anything so that he may do it no more.A hasty quarrel kindles fire,and urgent strife sheds blood.If you blow on a spark, it will glow;if you spit on it, it will be put out; and both come out of your mouth

I have always thought Slavs as White. They aren't by American standards? How "White" is defined?

The native peoples of Europe. That's how I define it. Some people include Semites, for reasons I'll never understand.

This is what, in the US, most job applications "optional" diversity survey says:White: A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East,or North Africa

The one I am filling out today includes south Asians and East Asians under Asian, and has another section for Pacific Islander. Pakistani is usually Asian though I've seen it listed as White on a city job application a few years ago.

Iranians, Iraqis, Saudis, Moroccans, Libyans, French, Germans, Poles, Bulgarians, Estonians, Finns, and Irish are just as white as the next under most US law. There are a couple court cases in which Arabs or Lebanese in particular were declared white. This occurred back when white was a privilege for immigration and probably legal protection and rights as a citizen. Asian Indians were almost considered white in one court case but this did not stick. Asian Indians are considered Caucasians (as an Aryan people) and South Asians. Mexicans were declared white by law some >100 years ago, and this was reportedly to improve the lives of Mexicans/Mexican Americans in the US as part of a trade contract negotiation. Many Mexicans may be white by virtue of higher European blood, though many Latin Americans (including Mexicans) are of sufficiently mixed race/Black/Native American blood to not be white. Armenians are white by virtue of ability to culturally blend in with whites (education and religion help) and I believe blend with white/Euro people by virtue of genotypes/phenotypes. This is similar to why Lebanese are white. There was also a movement among Armenians, Persians, and Arabs to not be white but other-write in ethnicity on the US census the other year so as to increase government awareness of the presence of these ethnic groups apart from dominant white America. I hope that such efforts make some inroads to recognizing the diversity of white cultural groups and their experiences in America and better address the needs of these communities.

To the OP: On medical forms, you may be a Slav. Outside of this, I would ask does it or did it much impact your life? Have you experienced a Slavic culture? How do you relate to it?

« Last Edit: February 20, 2013, 02:06:28 AM by Anastasia1 »

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Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation. (2 Cor 2:6)

Are these ethnic issues still important in America? I'm a little suprised that anyone would have guts to ask people of their ethic origin that way. If some company did that here it would cause huge outrage and accusations of Nazism.

« Last Edit: February 20, 2013, 10:16:39 AM by Alpo »

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But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.Leviticus 19:34

Are these ethnic issues still important in America? I'm a little suprised that anyone would have guts to ask people of their ethic origin that way. If some company did that here it would cause huge outrage and accusations of Nazism.

I'm not aware that these issues are important to everyday Americans. In my case, 2 different doctors had forms asking me to identify my race and ethnic origins, and it turned out the Government is collecting this information. I have no idea how ethnicity relates to the Electronic Health Record. This is new, before this we were always asked just to identify our race.

In my case, 2 different doctors had forms asking me to identify my race and ethnic origins, and it turned out the Government is collecting this information.

Finland is a promised land of statistics but if some goverment here tried to gather information about ethnic origin of people it would soon be out of office. Finnish state makes statistics about where people come from instead of ethnicity. Only people here who talk about human races are Neo-Nazis.

Logged

But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.Leviticus 19:34

Are these ethnic issues still important in America? I'm a little suprised that anyone would have guts to ask people of their ethic origin that way. If some company did that here it would cause huge outrage and accusations of Nazism.

Sometimes ethnicity is gathered in applications to assist in the hiring process because some employers will intentionally hire minority ethnicities to meet quotas, for diversity, etc. I believe it's to help curb racism and job discrimination, and maybe that's why the government may also collect it.

But...are all Slavs all Slav? Does one have to be all Slav to be a Slav? How much Slav does it take to be a Slav?

Not much evidently: the Czar, hope of the Pan-Slavists, was only 1/8 by descent Slav.

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Question a friend, perhaps he did not do it; but if he did anything so that he may do it no more.A hasty quarrel kindles fire,and urgent strife sheds blood.If you blow on a spark, it will glow;if you spit on it, it will be put out; and both come out of your mouth

I have always thought Slavs as White. They aren't by American standards? How "White" is defined?

The native peoples of Europe. That's how I define it. Some people include Semites, for reasons I'll never understand.

This is what, in the US, most job applications "optional" diversity survey says:White: A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East,or North Africa

The one I am filling out today includes south Asians and East Asians under Asian, and has another section for Pacific Islander. Pakistani is usually Asian though I've seen it listed as White on a city job application a few years ago.

Iranians, Iraqis, Saudis, Moroccans, Libyans, French, Germans, Poles, Bulgarians, Estonians, Finns, and Irish are just as white as the next under most US law. There are a couple court cases in which Arabs or Lebanese in particular were declared white. This occurred back when white was a privilege for immigration and probably legal protection and rights as a citizen. Asian Indians were almost considered white in one court case but this did not stick. Asian Indians are considered Caucasians (as an Aryan people) and South Asians. Mexicans were declared white by law some >100 years ago, and this was reportedly to improve the lives of Mexicans/Mexican Americans in the US as part of a trade contract negotiation. Many Mexicans may be white by virtue of higher European blood, though many Latin Americans (including Mexicans) are of sufficiently mixed race/Black/Native American blood to not be white. Armenians are white by virtue of ability to culturally blend in with whites (education and religion help) and I believe blend with white/Euro people by virtue of genotypes/phenotypes. This is similar to why Lebanese are white. There was also a movement among Armenians, Persians, and Arabs to not be white but other-write in ethnicity on the US census the other year so as to increase government awareness of the presence of these ethnic groups apart from dominant white America. I hope that such efforts make some inroads to recognizing the diversity of white cultural groups and their experiences in America and better address the needs of these communities.

To the OP: On medical forms, you may be a Slav. Outside of this, I would ask does it or did it much impact your life? Have you experienced a Slavic culture? How do you relate to it?

Btw, to put this in perspective, in the US someone from Spain isn't Hispanic.

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Question a friend, perhaps he did not do it; but if he did anything so that he may do it no more.A hasty quarrel kindles fire,and urgent strife sheds blood.If you blow on a spark, it will glow;if you spit on it, it will be put out; and both come out of your mouth

I have always thought Slavs as White. They aren't by American standards? How "White" is defined?

The native peoples of Europe. That's how I define it. Some people include Semites, for reasons I'll never understand.

This is what, in the US, most job applications "optional" diversity survey says:White: A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East,or North Africa

The one I am filling out today includes south Asians and East Asians under Asian, and has another section for Pacific Islander. Pakistani is usually Asian though I've seen it listed as White on a city job application a few years ago.

Iranians, Iraqis, Saudis, Moroccans, Libyans, French, Germans, Poles, Bulgarians, Estonians, Finns, and Irish are just as white as the next under most US law. There are a couple court cases in which Arabs or Lebanese in particular were declared white. This occurred back when white was a privilege for immigration and probably legal protection and rights as a citizen. Asian Indians were almost considered white in one court case but this did not stick. Asian Indians are considered Caucasians (as an Aryan people) and South Asians. Mexicans were declared white by law some >100 years ago, and this was reportedly to improve the lives of Mexicans/Mexican Americans in the US as part of a trade contract negotiation. Many Mexicans may be white by virtue of higher European blood, though many Latin Americans (including Mexicans) are of sufficiently mixed race/Black/Native American blood to not be white. Armenians are white by virtue of ability to culturally blend in with whites (education and religion help) and I believe blend with white/Euro people by virtue of genotypes/phenotypes. This is similar to why Lebanese are white. There was also a movement among Armenians, Persians, and Arabs to not be white but other-write in ethnicity on the US census the other year so as to increase government awareness of the presence of these ethnic groups apart from dominant white America. I hope that such efforts make some inroads to recognizing the diversity of white cultural groups and their experiences in America and better address the needs of these communities.

To the OP: On medical forms, you may be a Slav. Outside of this, I would ask does it or did it much impact your life? Have you experienced a Slavic culture? How do you relate to it?

Btw, to put this in perspective, in the US someone from Spain isn't Hispanic.

Tell that to the folks I know who claim to be Hispanic rather than Latino because they identify more with Spain than they do with the Amerindians.

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? Who can watch the watchmen?"No one is paying attention to your post reports"Why do posters that claim to have me blocked keep sending me pms and responding to my posts? That makes no sense.

But...are all Slavs all Slav? Does one have to be all Slav to be a Slav? How much Slav does it take to be a Slav?

Not much evidently: the Czar, hope of the Pan-Slavists, was only 1/8 by descent Slav.

I'm not exactly a Monarchist or a Tsarist but after reading about too many wars between various national groups having a ruler born of multicultural familyline does sound a quite symphatetic idea.

No, it's not. I'm not Russian and do not want to be one.

That's exactly the point. People with differing cultural identities but with one multicultural ruler. Of course it wasn't like that in practice but the theoretical idea is quite nice. Imagine all the people etc.

Logged

But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.Leviticus 19:34

I have always thought Slavs as White. They aren't by American standards? How "White" is defined?

The native peoples of Europe. That's how I define it. Some people include Semites, for reasons I'll never understand.

This is what, in the US, most job applications "optional" diversity survey says:White: A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East,or North Africa

The one I am filling out today includes south Asians and East Asians under Asian, and has another section for Pacific Islander. Pakistani is usually Asian though I've seen it listed as White on a city job application a few years ago.

Iranians, Iraqis, Saudis, Moroccans, Libyans, French, Germans, Poles, Bulgarians, Estonians, Finns, and Irish are just as white as the next under most US law. There are a couple court cases in which Arabs or Lebanese in particular were declared white. This occurred back when white was a privilege for immigration and probably legal protection and rights as a citizen. Asian Indians were almost considered white in one court case but this did not stick. Asian Indians are considered Caucasians (as an Aryan people) and South Asians. Mexicans were declared white by law some >100 years ago, and this was reportedly to improve the lives of Mexicans/Mexican Americans in the US as part of a trade contract negotiation. Many Mexicans may be white by virtue of higher European blood, though many Latin Americans (including Mexicans) are of sufficiently mixed race/Black/Native American blood to not be white. Armenians are white by virtue of ability to culturally blend in with whites (education and religion help) and I believe blend with white/Euro people by virtue of genotypes/phenotypes. This is similar to why Lebanese are white. There was also a movement among Armenians, Persians, and Arabs to not be white but other-write in ethnicity on the US census the other year so as to increase government awareness of the presence of these ethnic groups apart from dominant white America. I hope that such efforts make some inroads to recognizing the diversity of white cultural groups and their experiences in America and better address the needs of these communities.

To the OP: On medical forms, you may be a Slav. Outside of this, I would ask does it or did it much impact your life? Have you experienced a Slavic culture? How do you relate to it?

Btw, to put this in perspective, in the US someone from Spain isn't Hispanic.

Are these ethnic issues still important in America? I'm a little suprised that anyone would have guts to ask people of their ethic origin that way. If some company did that here it would cause huge outrage and accusations of Nazism.

It depends. Some people believe that the "inferior races", usually consisting of blacks, hispanics, and women are incapable of succeeding on their own merits and needs to be helped along by Uncle Sam until which point that they are sufficiently human to do so.

Others of us believe that everyone is equal and should rise or fall based on his/her own merits. These people usually get shouted down because all some people need to do is claim to be inferior and they get free cash and prizes.

I have always thought Slavs as White. They aren't by American standards? How "White" is defined?

The native peoples of Europe. That's how I define it. Some people include Semites, for reasons I'll never understand.

This is what, in the US, most job applications "optional" diversity survey says:White: A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East,or North Africa

The one I am filling out today includes south Asians and East Asians under Asian, and has another section for Pacific Islander. Pakistani is usually Asian though I've seen it listed as White on a city job application a few years ago.

Iranians, Iraqis, Saudis, Moroccans, Libyans, French, Germans, Poles, Bulgarians, Estonians, Finns, and Irish are just as white as the next under most US law. There are a couple court cases in which Arabs or Lebanese in particular were declared white. This occurred back when white was a privilege for immigration and probably legal protection and rights as a citizen. Asian Indians were almost considered white in one court case but this did not stick. Asian Indians are considered Caucasians (as an Aryan people) and South Asians. Mexicans were declared white by law some >100 years ago, and this was reportedly to improve the lives of Mexicans/Mexican Americans in the US as part of a trade contract negotiation. Many Mexicans may be white by virtue of higher European blood, though many Latin Americans (including Mexicans) are of sufficiently mixed race/Black/Native American blood to not be white. Armenians are white by virtue of ability to culturally blend in with whites (education and religion help) and I believe blend with white/Euro people by virtue of genotypes/phenotypes. This is similar to why Lebanese are white. There was also a movement among Armenians, Persians, and Arabs to not be white but other-write in ethnicity on the US census the other year so as to increase government awareness of the presence of these ethnic groups apart from dominant white America. I hope that such efforts make some inroads to recognizing the diversity of white cultural groups and their experiences in America and better address the needs of these communities.

To the OP: On medical forms, you may be a Slav. Outside of this, I would ask does it or did it much impact your life? Have you experienced a Slavic culture? How do you relate to it?

Btw, to put this in perspective, in the US someone from Spain isn't Hispanic.

And someone from Latium is not Latin.

That too. Reminds me of a joke "God punished the Romans for killing His Son by making them Italians."

Logged

Question a friend, perhaps he did not do it; but if he did anything so that he may do it no more.A hasty quarrel kindles fire,and urgent strife sheds blood.If you blow on a spark, it will glow;if you spit on it, it will be put out; and both come out of your mouth

I have always thought Slavs as White. They aren't by American standards? How "White" is defined?

The native peoples of Europe. That's how I define it. Some people include Semites, for reasons I'll never understand.

This is what, in the US, most job applications "optional" diversity survey says:White: A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East,or North Africa

The one I am filling out today includes south Asians and East Asians under Asian, and has another section for Pacific Islander. Pakistani is usually Asian though I've seen it listed as White on a city job application a few years ago.

Iranians, Iraqis, Saudis, Moroccans, Libyans, French, Germans, Poles, Bulgarians, Estonians, Finns, and Irish are just as white as the next under most US law. There are a couple court cases in which Arabs or Lebanese in particular were declared white. This occurred back when white was a privilege for immigration and probably legal protection and rights as a citizen. Asian Indians were almost considered white in one court case but this did not stick. Asian Indians are considered Caucasians (as an Aryan people) and South Asians. Mexicans were declared white by law some >100 years ago, and this was reportedly to improve the lives of Mexicans/Mexican Americans in the US as part of a trade contract negotiation. Many Mexicans may be white by virtue of higher European blood, though many Latin Americans (including Mexicans) are of sufficiently mixed race/Black/Native American blood to not be white. Armenians are white by virtue of ability to culturally blend in with whites (education and religion help) and I believe blend with white/Euro people by virtue of genotypes/phenotypes. This is similar to why Lebanese are white. There was also a movement among Armenians, Persians, and Arabs to not be white but other-write in ethnicity on the US census the other year so as to increase government awareness of the presence of these ethnic groups apart from dominant white America. I hope that such efforts make some inroads to recognizing the diversity of white cultural groups and their experiences in America and better address the needs of these communities.

To the OP: On medical forms, you may be a Slav. Outside of this, I would ask does it or did it much impact your life? Have you experienced a Slavic culture? How do you relate to it?

Btw, to put this in perspective, in the US someone from Spain isn't Hispanic.

Tell that to the folks I know who claim to be Hispanic rather than Latino because they identify more with Spain than they do with the Amerindians.

LOL. The Criollos still walk among us. Now they have to worry more about the Gringos than the Peninsulares.

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Question a friend, perhaps he did not do it; but if he did anything so that he may do it no more.A hasty quarrel kindles fire,and urgent strife sheds blood.If you blow on a spark, it will glow;if you spit on it, it will be put out; and both come out of your mouth

This thread is funny, we romanians had some Kings who were not ethnic romanians and were very good. The german kings as Carol I or Ferdinand, without whom we would not have had Greater Romania and Transylvanian romanians would be eating mamaliga in hungarian.

We had Vasile Lupu of albanian descent who favored romanian language in school and Church in Moldova.

Hungarian got Ioan de Hunedoara an ethnic romanian as one of their greatest heroes. And St nicholas II of Russia was of german, danish, and russian descent.

So the ethnic origin of the King does not really matter. Europeans are so closed on an ethnic level that what really matters then is the language, culture, and self identification of the King, his sense of duty, loyalty and skills.

Baba Novak was half serb, half romanian, was he slavic or not? It didn't matter to him, he fought in Mihail Viteazul(romanian) army, very bravely and gave hard times to the faithless ottomans and to the hungarians. There is a monument paying hommage to him in Cluj Napoca:

We had romanian traitors in the clergy such as Satanasie(uniate) and great romanian heroes in the clergy of foreign descent such as St Antim of Iberia or St Visarion Sarai:

I have heard that the term "Slav" came from what the Romans referred to those people brought in from outside the Empire as slaves. So Slav is really a derivitive from the word slave.

Any truth in this?

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Slav Look up Slav at Dictionary.com late 14c., Sclave, from Medieval Latin Sclavus (c.800), from Byzantine Greek Sklabos (c.580), from Old Church Slavonic Sloveninu "a Slav," probably related to slovo "word, speech," which suggests the name originally meant member of a speech community (cf. Old Church Slavonic Nemici "Germans," related to nemu "dumb;" and cf. Old English þeode, which meant both "race" and "language").http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=Slav

And

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The Slavic autonym Slověninъ is usually considered a derivation from slovo "word," originally denoting "people who speak (the same language)," i.e. people who understand each other, in contrast to the Slavic word denoting "foreign people" – němci, meaning "mumbling, murmuring people" (from Slavic němъ – "mumbling, mute"). The latter word may be the derivation of words to denote German/Germanic people in many later Slavic languages: e.g., Czech Němec, Slovak Nemec, Slovene Nemec, Belarusian, Russian and Bulgarian Немец, Serbian Немац, Serbian, Bosnian and Croatian Nijemac, Polish Niemiec, Ukrainian Німець, etc.,[31] but another theory states that rather these words are derived from the name of the Nemetes tribe,[32][33] which is derived from the Celtic root nemeto-.[34][35]

The English word Slav is derived from the Middle English word sclave, which was borrowed from Medieval Latin sclavus "slave,"[36] itself a borrowing and Byzantine Greek σκλάβος sklábos "slave," which was in turn apparently derived from a misunderstanding of the Slavic autonym (denoting a speaker of their own languages). The Byzantine term Sklavinoi was loaned into Arabic as Saqaliba by medieval Arab historiographers.[citation needed] However, the origin of this word is disputed.[37][38]

Alternative proposals for the etymology of Slověninъ propounded by some scholars enjoy much less support. B.P. Lozinski argues that the word slava once had the meaning of worshipper, in this context meaning "practicer of a common Slavic religion," and from that evolved into an ethnonym.[39] S.B. Bernstein speculates that it derives from a reconstructed Proto-Indo-European *(s)lawos, cognate to Ancient Greek λαός laós "population, people," which itself has no commonly accepted etymology.[40] Meanwhile others have pointed out that the suffix -enin indicates a man from a certain place, which in this case should be a place called Slova or Slava, possibly a river name. The Old East Slavic Slavuta for the Dnieper River was argued by Henrich Bartek (1907–1986) to be derived from slova and also the origin of Slovene.[41]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavs